Dark Souls
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Hopefully a version of the trailer with better sound turns up. You can see the game is definitely from the same bloodline as Demon's Souls in terms of looks at least. No 360 logo at the end of the trailer so I guess it's possible it's exclusive in Japan at least.

Looks like the PS3 version is the one getting the developer's attention so if anybody gets a bad port it won't be PS3 owners for a change.

I believe Sony made the announcement, so the 360 logo would be unlikely to appear. No mention of Namco either btw.

It seems to have been confirmed as exclusive to the PS3 in the Asian region.

Like Demon's Souls it's being developed using Sony's Phyre Engine so the two games will share a bit of code. Any recognisable Demon's Souls characters or assets will have to go though, no Maiden in Black, Patches etc.

An intriguing trailer, stranger than Demon's Souls perhaps if the characters camped out around the fire are any indication.

King_Edward wrote:
Maybe they could do the fluted armour as a PS3 exclusive item?

I didn't realise Demon's Souls used the Phyre Engine. Most things that use it are small PSN titles, I'm surprised it could make a game as pretty as Demon's Souls.

Namco being involved still has me worried though. They pretty much wrote the book on screwing their userbase this gen.

Actually most of the JRPGs released exclusively for PS3 use Phyre Engine: Trinity Universe, Last Rebellion, Atelier Rorona, Totori, Cross Edge and Neptune. It's odd though because you wouldn't think those games run on the same engine as Demon's Souls, ACE:R and Flower.

That trailer could pass as a trailer for the mysterious 6th Demon's Souls world Spiritual successor to a game which was a spiritual successor to another game; oh Japan.

Kenshin001 wrote:
I saw some gameplay of this and I must say, while the screens hinted at awesome, it looks completely shit. ; )

Are you talking about Demon's Souls or the new trailer linked above, cause it looks pretty damn tasty to me.

@Rauha Yeah its odd how they are so stop and start, must lose fans who don't follow things too closely. I've not seen anything about Armored Core 5 at the show yet but guess its due before Project Dark.

I really hope this is a long term thing with Namco Bandai as From Software could do some cool other stuff with them, action games like Otogi or Echo Night style survival horror.

From Software announced a spiritual successor to Demonís Souls called Project Dark at Tokyo Game Show. Namco Bandai will publish the game in North America and Europe, but not under the name Project Dark. Thatís a temporary title.

Digging through Japanís trademark database we found two possible titles for Project Dark, Dark Rings and Crowns of the Dark. Both were filed by Namco Bandai.

Namco Bandai, possibly to confuse me and others that look up trademarks, tend to register multiple names for one game. HmmÖ Dark Rings or Crowns of the DarkÖ I donít know which one I like more. How about you?

Those Dark Rings and Crowns of the Dark trademarks may have been red herrings. We just uncovered a trademark filed by Namco Bandai in Europe for Dark Souls. Namco Bandai registered Dark Souls, but skipped the other two potential titles found in Japan.

Dark Souls is either another contender for Project Darkís official name or a sign that weíre going to see a lot of dark games from Namco Bandai in 2011.

Dark Souls would really be taking the piss. Namco Bandai's involvement is worrying to say the least, hopefully From Soft are being left alone to work on the Japanese PS3 version without interference from them.

Calling it Dark Souls would be a bit cheeky, Namco Bandai have jumped in and snatched away a followup to Demon's Souls, then they possibly want to riff on the 'souls' part of the title to try and associate it with Demon's Souls and Sony's IP.

It's like Bungie suddenly making a Sci-Fi FPS for PS3 and 360 called Haloest that looks very familiar indeed.

Official name is Dark Souls. Details from Famitsu this week (via NeoGAF):

- This is the official title of what was previously Project Dark

- This time they want to increase the amount of field exploration in the game.
- All fields are seamless, so whatever you can see, you can reach and explore. If you see a fortress or castle walls in the distance, you can eventually get there.
- There will be no map display in the game, just a position display marker.

- They aim to make the game just as challenging than Demon's Souls, but also just as rewarding when you succeed. The sense of achievement is important.

- The gameplay will be similar to Demon's Souls in concept, where it's about trial and error and learning from your mistakes to play better.

- The game does not share the same world and story as Demon's Souls.
- The game will not use the same format as Demon's Souls in terms of having 5 worlds connected via a hub.

- Instead all maps in the game will be linked seamlessly in a connected world. The pace of the game will feel more about exploration and discovering locations, which you can then go inside into a dungeon or whatever and explore the interior further.
- There will be more complex level designs in the game using more vertical design in areas and such.

- The world setting is based on medieval dark fantasy, and will contain themes like "high fantasy of kings and knights", "death and the depths of the earth", and "the flames of chaos".

- The character creation process will not be class based.
- The play style of the player character will have much more freedom this time.
- There will be many more spells and items, and the animation and uniqueness of weapons will also be increased.

- The online elements are very similar to Demon's Souls. There is cooperative and PvP.
- You can still leave messages, and see players who died at various places.
- There will be no Soul Tendency this time because they don't want to have to use dedicated servers to handle that shit again.
- Instead this time there will be more features allowing players to engage in "mutual role playing" which they say are still under wraps. They'll reveal more when it's time.

Bandai Namco, for all our criticism of them really seem intend on turning it around and winning back fans with the moves they are making. They've also confirmed they are publishing From Software's Armored Core 5 internationally (will make a thread).

Dark Souls sounds incredible, especially the talk of far more animations and properties for the weapons, the one area that DS was lacking. But they've also come up with a bunch of amazing new ideas to expand on all that was good and great about Demon's Souls.

Excellent news, in both cases! I hope AC5 is technically and in terms of performance, sound this time. But, I am most looking forward to Dark Souls (which I can now see, is probably not the Cursed Crusade)